1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to storage enclosures for use in or on motor vehicles, and more specifically to a storage box for use in the cargo bed of a pickup truck.
2. Description Of The Related Art
The cargo bed of a pickup truck, while being a convenient place to carry all manner of items, presents those items to plain view, thereby encouraging theft. An open cargo bed also exposes all contained therewithin to weather. Thus, many storage boxes for installation in a pickup truck's cargo bed have been proposed. The closely related prior storage boxes are of several types, each type having inherent drawbacks. For example, the following patents propose mounting a storage box rearward in a cargo bed, adjacent the tailgate: U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,075 issued to Canfield in 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,226 issued to Heft in 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,312 issued to Kinkel, et al. in 1989; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,398 issued to Hallsen in 1990. Such rearward-mounted boxes, while in place, make it impossible to load items through the truck's tailgate. In contrast, a storage box mounted against the forward wall of a cargo bed is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,773 issued to Chapline, et al. in 1988. However, the Chapline, et al. box is secured to the cargo bed with hinges and screws, and therefore appears time-consuming to install and remove. Even when folded flat, a panel of the Chapline, et al. storage box obstructs the floor surface of the bed making it difficult to slide elongate items forward, thereby effectively reducing the usable space of the bed.
Thus, it appears there exists a need for a pickup truck storage box adapted to be easily installed at the forward end of the truck's cargo bed. And, such a box should be just as easily removed to permit the greatest versatility in the truck's carrying capacity.